[DnD] Let's Cast Magic Missile!

Guess I didn't pay any attention to it...

How silly of me.

Any character optimization I might have planned pales in comparison to the damage G-Unit has done with pushing enemies off cliffs and performing attacks that do terrible, terrible damage. I do not believe there has been any round ever where the total damage output is close to what Acerbandit inflicted on the bridge (how many insta-kills was that) and by farting down the stairs

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By the way, I just found out I can equip a 1d6 claw fighter claw in Character Builder. It apparently has no weight and belongs to the light blade group, with +3 proficiency.

Can I has harvest? And if so, can I enchant them?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Pangalin

But yeah, I didn't really anticipate how brutal the damage increase would be in the event that I rolled hot, since that never really happens. Taking someone from 95% health to 3 HP in 2 hits wasn't really part of the plan. I figure we'll stick with the 2x die system for the rest of this battle for the sake of simplicity (I'll go ahead and award extra difficulty XP to the survivors I guess) and then there are some other less rapey balance ideas I could try.

Skex, I guess we'll be saying goodbye to the double-damage dice, but dunno what other "less rapey balance ideas" he has in the pipeline.

I figure you might want a greatspear since it has reach. Plus you'll want to take spear proficiency anyway, so why not take it on a superior weapon?

I initially tried to retrain Light Shield Proficiency to Battle Cleric Armaments (Gain proficiency with light shields and with one military weapon of your choice) and get Gheth a longspear (then take the Longspear Focused Expertise feat). But the Character Builder won't let me choose the military weapon without having to houserule the character, so... [Still works out though, greatspear has a better proficiency bonus]

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Pretty sure I remember Motsognir no longer had negative status effects at the end of the Hargast encounter. Not sure about dying people though.

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Does anyone have any paper, parchment, or writing materials of any kind?

Because I totally want to write this letter and leave it at the slave pit room:

Murkelmor:

You smell. I have enough of life under your heel. I'm taking the money the gnolls gave us for the slaves, and leaving ThunderSpire forever with my men

May we never meet again.

Truly Yours,
Framarth

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hm yes, that's a problem. Maybe we can delay certain aspects of leveling (retraining, feat selection) and whack Murkelmor good first, because I myself plan to change into a greatbow at my first chance.

Won't affect Gheth attack-wise that much though, because he doesn't have any spear proficiency to begin with. (Retraining the shield proficiency to make that possible would negatively impact AC though.)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Why no, other than the claws, those bits of enemies are entirely useless. It just amuses me to see your (and Pangalin's, via NPCs) reactions

Well, okay, that's not entirely true. Cal always wanted to poke an arrow into a heart and shoot the whole thing at someone.


FELIPE NO

I'll want to delay leveling as well, until we get back to Freeport. I want to see what's on the shopping list in the Seven-Pillared Hall, as well as in Freeport, and the rituals we are rewarded with by Valthrun for this quest.

I'm crossing my fingers for the "Enchant Magic Items" ritual book, or at least the availability of a Duelist Greatbow and a pair of Eagle-Eye Goggles for purchase.

Skills, Class Acts: Bard comes out in a couple of days. Maybe you'll want to look at the new powers before making a final decision?

How ya doing, buddy?

There is a feat I can take called "Mark of Making", which makes it possible to make all sorts of magic items without relying on availability in merchant stores. It basically gives you the "Enchant Magic Items" ritual.

But since all I really can afford to craft are a Duelist Greatbow and pair of Eagle-Eye Goggles, I'll wait until I see the inventory lists before making a choice.

Also Pang is exactly right.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So Pang, what are the chances that Valthrun will give us the ritual that makes fake gold?

Also, I think Skex wants to change weapons, but doesn't want to get a negative hit to accuracy or defense while in the middle of a dungeon.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Awww. But surely he's going to give us more than 1 ritual which would theoretically at least double our chances. Who am I kidding, an upright robot like Glock will never deign to create funny money...

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Too bad it won't last too long

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

We can.... haggle?

Can I thievery as well?

I was speaking idiomatically.

I don't mind trying out those options... I believe the dude I'm masquerading as HAS done a spot of pickpocketing in the past...

Just so long as a really poor roll doesn't result in Cal getting thrown in prison or something. Because like, Cal has NEVER succeeded on a thievery check EVER...

Acer, buddy, let's make out like Bandits! You do the stealing, I do the distracting and the aid another check! Skills and I can do the bartering. Heck, take 10 on our bluff scores is probably enough to beat any passive insight score

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

@Pang: But you just said pickpocketing was always an option ;____; (Presumably it's opposed against perception amirite)

FELIPE NO

2 Dice Rolls Steal Skills' stuff

This was quite sparse on the Heroic tier. Boo hiss...

I guess you can consider Staggering Note in lieu of War Song Strike next level. Gotta have a handy Thunder Power so you can use that sword daily.

That free melee attack and especially the at-will push by two squares sure sounds useful if Pang continues to build dungeons with bottomless pits.

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Pang, it doesn't seem like the January 19 update included the new ranger powers in Dragon 383. Will you still allow me to take them? (Planning to retrain Split the Tree to Guardian Arrow).

If yes, then please make it so. Feat selection for my munchkining pleasure for later

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Fair enough, though is it possible for you to delay any nerfs until the next level up? The power has a certain flavor that "Split the Tree", a supercharged version of Two-Fanged Strike (which in turn is a better Twin Strike) doesn't have.

Just so I can better appreciate the risk, can you think of any Dragon article power that was nerfed?

Originally Posted by Pangalin

Scratch that, I'm just going to try Skill's original idea to just increment each die up to the next tier (ergo, no more d4s ever)

Will the decrease to enemy HP still be 33% (2/3), or will you be changing this aspect as well?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Very well, I'll take the risk.

Final decision. Retrain Level 1 Daily from Split the Tree to Guardian Arrow.
I'm delaying the feat selection.

(Doing this because I'm still expecting another battle with Murkelmor, after an extended rest, before we finally get back to civilization).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Heh, we have tons of human shields left! ('Sides, Cal runs 3.6576 kilometers per hour faster than Garrmondo, Glockenspiel, and Gheth)

Pang, may I request for a zoomed out portion of everything that has been explored so far in the Horned Hold?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Thanks.

Also, ahahahaha dissension in the ranks. Hard to think those two were colleagues in a hospital. One wonders how the heck Gheth and Glock got together in the first place...!

Originally Posted by Pangalin

It's not as though he's going to pickpocket anything out of a shop, anyway. Everything's behind the counter since even +1 weapons cost more than a commoner makes in a year.

Also just for my bribing pleasure, how much do commoners, magistrates, and lawmen earn in a year in your D&D world? Cal could always use a flunky to carry all his biological experiments.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Mmm, that works out to about 8 GP and 34 SP per month for untrained labor. Maybe add extra for hazard pay and overtime. Say about 10 GP/month?

Cool, gonna try to hire myself a non-combatant dude to carry my non-precious stuff, prolly a strapping adolescent so he doesn't get any ideas about robbing us while we sleep.

That is, if Cal can't buy himself a nice affordable beast of burden. The Adventurer's Vault only stated the acquisition cost, so I'd have to take cost of stabling and foodstuff into account. At least humanoids are less high-maintenance.

I was speaking idiomatically.

But how? How did those incompetents defeat Murkelmor?

That can't be a shapeshifter masquerading as a dead Murkelmor, can it?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Before we leave, I wanna see the shopping lists in the Seven-Pillared Hall, in case they got stuff that Freeport doesn't

Cal's feeling a little jealous, being the only one who exited the Horned Hold without buying/finding some nice magical trinket.

FELIPE NO

Cal prefers to collect his own specimens. Kord knows where those eyes have been, seeing as how it belonged to Gnasc

And on a totally metagaming basis, Gheth will get into situations where enemies have combat advantage against him a lot more frequently than Cal probably will. Plus I prefer the +5 poison resistance!

How ya doing, buddy?

Cal's Level Up Choices:

Retrain: Split the Tree --> Guardian Arrow
Feat: Mark of Making
Power: Weave through the Fray

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Pangalin

Alright, so. If I don't hear something in regards to Garrmondo and Gordok's level up by Tuesday I'm just going to start taking suggestions from the peanut gallery. Maybe Garrmondo would make an excellent multiclass psion! Maybe Gordok should specialize in boomerangs! The possibilities are endless!

I'm hardly an impartial member of the peanut gallery, but here's what I think Gordok might choose!

Power: FAST HANDS (Skill Lvl 2)
Feat: MOUNTED COMBAT

Cuz I think the little bear should be riding on top of a bigger one!

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How ya doing, buddy?

Blarg, the bug's that specific? I've already started over twice! Bet you got hit with it real good too

Anyhow, I went ahead and re-uploaded a new version of the file. Took 2 minutes of hacking away anything containing "Hellish Rebuke" in the XML file using Wordpad. It seems to load fine now...

How ya doing, buddy?

Disembodied Hand gives everything Fast Hands does, and then some, so I guess it obsoletes my recommendations

So I'm thinking Life Siphon sounds rather good as a per-encounter 'healing' option and Insightful Warning as a per-encounter mitigation to future TheUrge type attacks

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?